Should Free Republic become a paid subscription service?

Vanity | 6/23/2006 | Berlin_Freeper

[Berlin_Freeper]

I am not certain what the legal ramifications would be in changing Free Republic from donations to a subscription service. It seems to me the switch may be detrimental to legal issues such as copyrights. If that is true I'd appreciate if someone could briefly explain that to me. However if that is not the case here is my suggestion:

I have been wondering about this for some time now and have not seen any discussions about it. So I would like to ask: Is it time for Free Republic to become an online subscription service?

Currently, the site is very antiquated. People can easily abuse the "add a keyword" feature and there seems to be a growing number of liberal trolls, foreigners and even pro-homosexual agenda-driven people infecting the site. In order to cut down on the undesirables and enhance FR at the same time, would it be advisable to start charging a monthly fee of about 15-30 bucks to be able to log into the site and post? There could also be different subscription levels like Basic, Premium or Platinum. That way, the more you pay the more features you have access to. Some of these extra-services could include storing photos or FR could be a conservative search engine for the web.

I have seen online sites where people can still read the boards for free. FR could do something like that so it would still be accessible to the Conservative public even if they are not paying members with posting priviledges.

Websites that rely heavily on banner and pop-up ads need as many hits as possible so for them restricting posting rights to subscribers might not be so desirable. However, Free Republic does not work like that. There are no ads other than some book links on the home page so the number of hits is not as crucial to the bottom line which is currently being paid for by donations.

Donations seem to be working well, but I am sure the cashflow could be improved. How many of you people honestly are put off donating money to FR because it is not what it should be? Especially in regards to the undesirable element that can be found throughout many of the threads. Wouldn't this change in format go a long way in eliminating the undesirables? I think so. Plus it would be neat to experience an upgraded more modern version of Free Republic.

Note: If you are a democrat troll, foreigner or pro-homosexual/lesbian then I am really not interested in your opinion and you should not be posting it to me (just the fact that I have to add this note is proof that something is not right).

[bwteim]

I do not put ANY CREDENCE in your 5,000 silent majority numbers. You posted a discussion provoking thread, but don't pay too much attention to posts versus views versus replies. People DO NOT respond for all sorts of reasons. The silence of NOT responding does not mean they agree with the poster.

See below for randomly selected posts. Granted, they are not "Question posts" however it includes yours. I don't think you can infer much from the numbers. People can look at a post which counts as a View and Agree with the Post and uet not Reply, they could also Disagree with it and still not Reply, they may have just clicked for the Heck of it, and so on.

Thread	Keyword	Replies	Views	View to Reply Ratio
1	Parody ZOT of Free Republic ^	12,897	40,573	3
2	The Hobbit Hole XXV - Fare you well! Fare you well!	9,837	56,365	6
3	Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VIII	4,247	310,988	73
4	Terri Schiavo: March 30th Day 13 No Food/Water	2,565	37,627	15
5	Saddam Hussein Captured	1,123	4,903	4
6	Updated FR Excerpt and Link Only or Deny Posting List due to Copyright Complaints	563	45,037	80
7	John Couey Confesses t	446	18,060	40
8	Republican No More, I joined this forum got a ZOT! ^	430	10,801	25
9	** Should Free Republic become a paid subscription service? ^	398	6,022	15
10	Jessica Lunsford's body Found	325	13,427	41
11	What exactly is Zot? ^	181	4,718	26
12	Fox: al-Zarqawi [possibly] Killed in Bombing Raids on Fallujah Safehouses	150	9,068	60
13	Britain has prevented Sept 11-styl	114	6,314	55
14	Weathergirl in nude pics storm	79	3,274	41
15	Some Telecommuters Work In The Nude	67	3,186	48
16	Nude Photos of Nancy Ajram	37	1,795	49
17	Pilots Help Guide Planes to Carrier	10	1	0
18	Profile me, please! Joseph Farah thinks planes should land at airports	9	2	0
19	Air Europa Orders 18 Boeing Planes,	2	274	137
20	Playing God: Terri Schiavo	1	248	248
21	5 killed as planes collide in Alaska ^	1	194	194
22	U.S. Planes Bomb Al Qaeda; No Sign of Surrender ^	1	1	1
23	Sept 11 victim found alive ^	0	3	-

[La Enchiladita]

Now I understand. Anyone who disagrees with you is a "stalker." Thanks for the clarification.

[Amelia]

In this light from seeing the large number of hostile posts and in some cases blatant personal attacks I would most definitely say that the silent majority agrees with me and at this point there are 5874+ views and 390 replies so I would put those that actually agree with me at about 5000. That's 5:1 in my favor, not bad in my book :)

I just looked to see whether or not you'd gotten zotted. :-)

[Quix]

Well, I was a traditional conservative as a teen and have only become more so.

I'm a stron supporter of he President. I would think i wouldn't have any trouble with those boundaries.

[Tench_Coxe]

Well, reading through the posts, you've definitely managed to bring up some old timer names I haven't seen too often.
I'm not one to tout my 'old timer' status. Mainly because I believe the measure of a poster is in the content of his/her post(s), rather than the amount of time spent on this forum. But, I do have a bit of an 'old timer's' perspective, having lurked here beginning several months before the March for Justice in '98, and finally my better judgement having been overcome and signing up in May of '99.
I think your idea is well meaning (for the most part), but misguided. It doesn't really suit the character of this forum. If you had been here in the earlier days, this place was a little more reminescent of an unmoderated usenet, although for the most part those posting tried to keep things in check. Then, mods were brought in to keep things from going off the rails after this site got really popular around 2000.
The beauty of this place is in the ability of anyone who has something to say to sign up and post. You get your share of grumblers, and, for some strange reason, a core group of folks who should have been nailed for their conduct some time ago but are still kept around (comedy relief, perhaps?). Because of the nature of this forum, it has attracted some pretty fine minds, not to mention a few 'celebrity' posters.
A subscription service would most likely turn this place into a quasi-lucianne.com (I remember that fandango well ). I think there would be some who would sign on to your idea, sharing a similar view of 'undesirables' ( read:those whose viewpoints differ ). Not a chance. The fact that this place continues to get donations to run it is a testimony to those who, despite the flame wars, the few truly obnoxious posters, and the idiotic threads of dueling religions (I will not speak its name ), decide that the forum is truly desireable and valuable to the purposes of conservatism.
Another true testament is the fact that there are posters from foreign lands who have similar interests as the purposes of the forum, and who also treat it as a beacon of freedom when the lights are threatened to be extinguished in many places.

My regrets: there has been a slow decline in number of posters/frequency of postings from some who I considered to have excellent minds or uncomfortable viewpoints that were very topical. I think this place suffers for their lack. A subscription service would only make this forum that much more diminished.
Anyway, I'll put my soapbox away now. As a side note, if you truly wish a subscription type forum, there is nothing stopping you from setting one up. Just don't be surprised if the results are disappointing.

[Chena]

Should Free Republic become a paid subscription service?

Easiest question I've answered this year. The answer is, "no". The reasons are as obvious as the nose on your face. LOL

[Minus_The_Bear]

There are many things that could be done to improve FR but putting up a subscription wall is not one of them. As many other have pointed out search engine saturation draws in MANY new users.

I would like to see more development to improve FR...

• Rewrite to generate valid xhtml/css code. This would put less of a bandwidth strain on FR servers.
• Implement a WYSIWYG posting feature for those ingorant of html and to clean up code
• etc...

One site FR could learn a lot from is Digg... I am SURE there are many loyal Freepers who would offer their services for free to make these things happen but ultimately it is JimRob's choice since it is his project.

[Bella_Bru]

You've been here a year and a half. FR did just fine before you joined and 1 & 1/2 years later gave us your great idea.

If FR were by subscription only, it would be the end of exchange of differing opinions and would turn into a small-ish echo chamber. People paying would not want to read opinions differrent from their own (some of don't want to now!). Eventually, all you end up with is 100 posters all saying "bump" and "you're right".

Sounds like fun. Not.

[Berlin_Freeper]

"If FR were by subscription only, it would be the end of exchange of differing opinions and would turn into a small-ish echo chamber."

Hmm, I gave a differing opinion and let's see what I got...

0000
ALIENS SUCKED MY BRAIN
BEAT IT
BIG CUP OF STFU
BUY A CLUE
CREEPY IDEA
DINGLEBERRY
DUMB IDEAS
FIND ANOTHER FORUM
GO AWAY
HATES FOREIGNERS
HIT THE BRICKS
IDIOT
IDIOTIC VANITY
NAZI LOVER
NEWBIE MORON
PARANOIAC
POSTER IS A CLOSET HOMO
POSTERISTEHGAY
QUEER BAITER
SILLY
SILLY BOY
STALKER BAITER
STOOPID POSTS
STRANGE
TAKE A HIKE
WEIRD
YOUR PANTIES R BUNCHED

And those are just from the keywords that were added. In the thread itself I was called:

Democrat
Troll
Idiot
Small minded bigot
Newb
Retarded
Paranoid
Goofy
Socialist
Nazi
Purposefully destructive

And probably more that I missed from just scanning it now.

Is that your idea of fun?

One thing that I would like to say at the end of it all is that I am amazed at how many people are signed up to FR who think like you do. That FR should be about different opinions. I can get that most any place such as Yahoo. What I come to FR is for like minded people who yes agree with each other but at the same time build on those agreed fundamental concepts of Conservative America.

I hope you will allow that you can still learn something from people you basically agree with. And you can better build on a political platform with like minded people than with the opposite party. That is just the essence of politics. Politics is like minded people gathering together and this is a political site.

If what you are most interested in is fun, then go visit Disney Land.

[freedom moose]

Note: If you are a democrat troll, foreigner or pro-homosexual/lesbian then I am really not interested in your opinion and you should not be posting it to me (just the fact that I have to add this note is proof that something is not right).

If FR became a pay site wouldn't it be harder for YOU to ban unwanted "foreigners" like me? At least during the term of my paid subscription.

P.S: I'm not one of the nasty BBC foreigners who berlin_freeper says are stalking him

[freedom moose]

My idea is that true Conservatives who are the ones that this site is supposed to be meant for
Which version of conservatism would be consider the one true version?

[leadpenny]

Still sore, huh?

Nah, happy as a clam. You've validated my impression of you.

Sure hope your imaginary friends had a laugh as they
huddled around your computer and read the responses to
a truly goofy idea.

*clicking heals* Zeig Heil!

[SamAdams76]

As far as I'm concerned, Free Republic already is a paid service. I donate a monthly fee to keep the site going and everybody else who is able to do so should do that as well.

[goldstategop]

A forum should ALWAYS be free. However if Jim Rob wants to add premium content material or special content upgrades, I think he can charge for them. The way to promote a business is to offer something for free that will lead people to consider an upgrade. If you've ever seen affiliate businesses around the web, you know why the free to join ones get lots of sign ups. People can see what is on offer and decide if the investment is the worth the cost of running the business. Free Republic is a non-profit site but I suppose it could branch out as business. But that's up to Jim Rob and FR management to decide if the prospect is commercially viable.

(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")

[Irish_Thatcherite]

HATES FOREIGNERS

And what did you expect???

[varon]

Note: If you are a democrat troll, foreigner or pro-homosexual/lesbian then I am really not interested in your opinion.................................

I am neither a democrat troll, foreigner nor pro-homosexual/lesbian but am interested in how you would keep those that are, from subscribing?

[Irish_Thatcherite]

I guess us Euros are all evil leftists! ;)

[meyer]

I volunteer to donate a bit to FR to keep it running. If it were changed to a subscription model, I'd stop. One of my favorite photography forums recently changed owners and went to a subscription model. I quit the forum as there are many, many free forums out there that serve the same purpose.

While FR is unique in many ways, it would lose its lustre as a fee-based forum. Membership would fall drastically, as many people would seek other ways to discuss the issues without having to pay for the privilege.

[Irish_Thatcherite]

Now I understand. Anyone who disagrees with you is a "stalker." Thanks for the clarification.

He clearly has an attitude problem!!

[kabar]

If you charge a subscription price, would you enable the site to ban paid subscribers if they "cross the line?" Would they get their money back? A paid site entails a contractual obligation, which could open FR up to legal action.